Winter is finally over! Time for a new coop!

Sooooo, I know it has been a while since I posted a blog entry, but I didn't have too much to talk about during the dreariness of winter. Winter depresses me. I hate the cold and wet and all around yuckiness. Blech!

Now that spring has sprung in north Georgia I'm breaking out of my winter rut and jumping into new projects around the house.  My main one being the construction of a new and bigger coop for my 7 hens, and the 6 new pullets I picked up from the feed store a few weeks ago... bringing my chickie total to 13. Yeah... we definitely needed a bigger coop.

When we went from 6 to 7 hens I knew our old coop was plenty big enough.  But then I saw those little fuzz babies at Tractor Supply and I knew we HAD to add them to our chicken family. Thus, the requirement for bigger accommodations. ;)

In actuality, I'd already decided to build another coop because I wanted to do some upgrades to make their enjoyment and my time spent caring for them easier. So back in late February the hubby and I walked around the property and picked out the perfect spot, and it was no where near the original coop's location.

 



Since we'd had issues with night attacks in the past, the new coop--though much more secure--was placed near the fenced in area for out big outside dogs. This way the dogs will bark and (hopefully) scare away any night prowlers.  That is, after they stop barking at the chickens. *Face Palm*

On March 9, 2013, we hit Lowe's and came home with $400 worth of building supplies.  Eek!  It took a few days before we could get started though. Rain, rain, rain.  Ugh! I thought we'd never get started, and when we finally did I wondered if we'd ever finish.  Stupid winter.  :(

Thankfully, the hubby was ready to go once the skies cleared, even though I was down with a foot injury (I was sitting in a chair taking this picture). I would hop on over when he needed more hands, and then he'd send me back to my time-out chair.  LOL.

 

I had previously drawn out crude and unprofessional designs on what I wanted, but it was really something for me to see the thoughts in my head appear in front of me in real life.

By the time we finally got the coop "in the dry" the chicks were big enough to move out of my laundry room. Woohoo! They lived in one corner of the coop while we finished it off.

And then it was time to get everything else done.

 

 

The chicken run was enclosed on the left side of the coop and wraps around the back. We covered the entire area with plastic, black netting to keep out any flying predators and keep the hens inside. The coop is about 4 times bigger than the old one, and the run is more than double the size of the old one. The girls are loving all of their space.

It only took about a week for them to clean out the run of all things green, so I'm hauling leaves from around my 9 acres to the run every 2 weeks. This helps me clean up my property, while giving the hens something to scratch around in. They eat bugs and seeds and weeds while breaking down the leaves. It also helps keep the run from getting muddy and poopy.  ;)

The coop isn't 100% finished though. We'll be adding a few things here and there over the next few months. I'm adding some decorative metal signs and flowers, and we're also going to add a small deck on the front and a storage bin to keep the feed in.

Anyway, this is what we've been doing lately. I'm glad to have the girls in their new place, and even happier that they found their new nests on the first day. So far everything is working smoothly, and there's still room for more chickies in the future.  I'll be sure to share more pictures when we finish deck and clean up the construction mess. I'm waiting on a lovely spring day and then I'll be out there snapping all sorts of pics for you guys and gals out there.

Happy Monday!








New layers in the coop.

As you may recall, back in April I purchased six new chicks to add to my coop of three Rhode Island Reds.  The fluffy chicks quickly grew big enough to go into the coop with my older hens.  Up to now we've just been waiting until the egg laying began.

And now it has!

Out of the six Barred Plymouth Rocks, three are now laying daily.  I did a happy dance the first day when there was a new egg in the nest.  Each day a new one arrives I celebrate.  All the work and waiting is starting to pay off and I couldn't be happier.  Each egg is like a new gift.  :)

Before:

After:

EGGS!

The top two eggs are from my Rhode Island Reds, and the rest are from the Barred Plymouth Rocks.  You can't tell too well in the picture, but there is a little color difference (the BPRs are lighter) and size (the BPRs are smaller).  However, they all taste the same!  ;)

Soon the other three will start laying and I'll be collecting approximately nine eggs daily.  Since my RIRs are a year older than my BPRs I'm hoping when one breed starts molting the other will still be laying.  That way we'll always have eggs.  At least that's what I'm hoping.  Who knows what the chickens will think of that.  LOL!

Brown Easter Eggs

My first batch of chicks started laying eggs toward the end of last summer, so this was our first Easter without a single white, store-bought egg in the house.  I really wondered if I would have to rush out & buy a dozen white eggs just for the kids to color.

However, to my surprise, the brown eggs from our Rhode Island Reds colored up just as beautiful and a bit more unique than any white egg I've ever used.

Since I have a stash of egg coloring kits (all purchased at major discounts after the holiday over the years), I didn't want to buy anything new to color eggs.  We pulled out a kit and started boiling our eggs.  One dozen into the pot, four for each child.  One dozen came out of the boiling water and straight into an ice bath.  Instant cooling!

Okay, let me just say that yellow doesn't work well with brown eggs.  The one we tried turned out a weirdly, sick-looking BLAH.  Orange was a bit iffy, but the kids seemed satisfied with it.  Me, well I loved the reds, purples, blues, and greens.  My youngest took a crayon to hers before we dyed them, thus the wild and crazy designs on the three right eggs.

Something that really struck a cord with me is how the same color can look completely different on each egg.  Take green for example. In the picture there are three green eggs (top, left, right), but each one is a different shade of green. There's not more than a minute of dying time difference between them, but the colors are sooooo different.

The girls and I declared brown Easter eggs a success, and I didn't even have to go to the store!  Oh, and all twelve eggs disappeared with extra-speedy swiftness by the end of the day.  I'm surprised none of the kids had tummy aches.  LOL!  I'm happy with the egg colors--so rich and vibrant--and we will definitely be using our brown eggs in the future.